That park never reopened after Hurrican Katrina in 2005. A start-up called Southern Star Amusements wants to renovate the property, opening a Nick-themed park. Theme Park Insider readers (including yours truly) have expressed skepticism about the proposal.
But let's take a closer look at the numbers. The last two major U.S. theme park chain sales established the price per annual visitor at about $100. Given Nickelodeon Park's estimated budget of $165 million, that would suggest that the park would need to attract about 1.65 million visitors a year for the pricing formula to hold.
Six Flags New Orleans, in its best year, did about 1 million annual visitors, according to the old Amusement Business/ERA reports. Would this rehab, plus the Nick branding, be enough to attraction an additional 650,000 visitors a year? Using 1 million as the baseline is probably optimistic, given the extensive emigration from the immediate area after Katrina. And a kid-focused theme park doesn't mesh well with New Orleans' more adult image, so it probably won't draw much from the existing out-of-area tourist market in the city.
Still, with that kid focus, you're likely not looking at the expense of B&M coasters. Or tech-heavy dark rides. Really, the Nick park may very well end up looking like an expanded version of Kings Island's Nick Universe. No, that wouldn't be on par with Universal or Busch (much less Disney) attractions, but Nick Universe drew its share of fans from throughout the Midwest. I'm not the expert (calling Dave Cobb!), but it seems to me something on that scale could be done on the budget Southern Star's discussing.
Is an expanded Nick Universe enough of a draw to bring 650,000-1 million extra visitors to eastern New Orleans? Ultimately, that's the public's call. What do you say?
Tweet
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
